


Untitled Los Angeles AU

by aguantare



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Gen, M/M, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 16:05:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aguantare/pseuds/aguantare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Busy. Harry’s always busy. With friends, with Louis, with his siblings, with shoots, with promotions. With anything, and anyone, except him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Untitled Los Angeles AU

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: don't know them, don't own them, don't sue me
> 
> Taking a short break from the multi-parter to post this one-shot. Originally posted on LJ on October 4.

" _Hey, it's Harry, I'm busy right now, so leave me a message and I'll get back to you. Thanks_!"

Niall bites his lip and pulls his phone away from his ear, wondering why he expected anything else. Busy. Harry’s always busy. With friends, with Louis, with his sisters, with shoots, with promotions. With anything, and anyone, except him.

He understands, in a way. Harry’s the new darling of Hollywood, the good-looking, out and proud, fresh-faced, no-holds barred actor who doesn't shy away from tough roles and doesn't brag about it either. Niall is just an old friend from way back in the day, when Harry hadn’t quite grown into his long limbs and his unruly hair and his clothes were still bought at the second-hand store down the block from their elementary school in a so-so neighborhood on the outskirts of London. Harry’s going places, and Niall is stuck in what seems like a permanent state of limbo, a temp job here, a contract job there, but nothing that lasts, no one that says, hey, you’re an ace guitarist, we’d really like to keep you. Niall is like a dead weight hanging off the tatters of Harry’s distant past, and he gets that, he does. He wants Harry to be successful, be happy, and he doesn’t want to be the one that gets in the way of that.

It's just that sometimes, Niall wishes Harry would make time for him, even if it's just out of polite necessity. When they were kids, Harry could make him feel like the center of the world, like he was someone, like he mattered. He's not even sure when exactly that started to change, and maybe some of it is Niall’s fault because he hasn't exactly been the picture of cheerfulness lately and Harry has borne the brunt of his frustration.

But now, tonight, he needs him. He really does.

It's cold up here, he thinks. Strange that after living in London, he could ever think of Los Angeles as cold, but there it is. The bridge overlooks a river valley of trees and greenery, and that's another thing Niall never really expected to see here, but here and there, amidst the concrete and metal, there are signs of life, peeking through. It's a long way to the bottom though. A long way.

Long enough.

Niall opens his phone again, hits the re-dial button. Ten rings later it goes to voicemail. This time he leaves a message.

"Haz, it's Niall. Could you...could you call me back when you get this? Thanks."

-

Ten hours later, the tinny ringing of an unanswered cell phone catches the attention of some hikers down by the river.

And two miles away, in his hillside house in Pasadena, Harry wonders why Niall isn't picking up.


End file.
